5 ms·

As usual, Stallman was not only ahead of his time, but also swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom, immediately after the attacks of 9/11. While near

by cs702 13y ago

As usual, Stallman was not only ahead of his time, but also swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom, immediately after the attacks of 9/11. While nearly everyone else was focused on more mundane concerns of immediate importance, he was worried and tried to warn us about long-term, higher-order, societal consequences. (He's always doing that -- worrying about long-term, higher-order consequences -- so his warnings and antics strike more practical people as being 'out of touch with reality.') Like him or not, Richard Stallman is already a major historical figure, because his impact on society (via the gnu, FSF, various manifestos, and activism) will be felt for a very long time. Much of what he has said/written in the past has gained stature with the passing of time. -- Edit: added last sentence.

zallarak 13y ago
Indeed. Its funny how HN bashes on him, and then gets enraged about Obama's wiretapping! This man saw it coming and we ridiculed him for his fear - look at where we are now.
- dllthomas 13y ago
  "we ridiculed him for his fear" citation needed
spodek 13y ago
What's sad is what he got wrong. The 'm' in "Thousands dead, millions deprived of civil liberties?" should have been a 'b'. "Bush" in "Congress hurried to pass a resolution giving Bush unlimited power" should have been "the Executive Branch." Visionary as he was, history surpassed what he anticipated.
- skore 13y ago
  Indeed, that makes it even worse. Time and time again I see people scoffing at Stallman (and others like him) as "radicals" who do nothing but impede our discourse with their outlandish fantasies, trying to center it around their paranoia instead of finding quick, pragmatic and ultimately self destructive "solutions". I have a feeling Stallman would have liked to say more, but chose to make a more modest statement. Turns out, he could have cranked it up to 11 and it would still be modest by what we know today.
untog 13y ago
As usual, Stallman was not only ahead of his time, but also swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom I think that depends on what you call 'conventional wisdom'. The Patriot Act was widely criticsed from the first second it was introduced. Take a look at this NY Times article from 2001: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/13/us/nation-challenged-congress-house-passes-terrorism-bill-much-like-senate-s-but.html http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/13/us/nation-challenged-congr... Civil liberties advocates implored Congress to slow down and consider the legislation's impact, which they said could be a dangerous infringement on Americans' privacy and constitutional rights. He was very, very far from being alone in his stance. It's just that those with power were not also the skeptical ones.
- dllthomas 13y ago
  As a teen at the time, my first reaction (well, my first reaction after thinking my father was pulling my leg to get me out of bed, given that he'd been talking about something similar from a Clancy novel in then-recent memory) was very much in line with Stallman's: authority is going to overreact. That said, while he was far from alone, it was nonetheless close enough to say that "conventional wisdom" was on the other side of it. Even in my anti-Bush, left-leaning, civil-liberties-sensitive circles there was a profound overreaction and too much credence given to the "we have to be safe" line.
znowi 13y ago
I suppose it's better late than never. Glad people start realizing this and seeing the scale of the iceberg. I hope the young generation will find value in his ideals and will not be put off by "swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom". After all, the hacker's virtue has always been... an unconventional wisdom :)

by cs702 13y ago

zallarak 13y ago

Indeed. Its funny how HN bashes on him, and then gets enraged about Obama's wiretapping! This man saw it coming and we ridiculed him for his fear - look at where we are now.

dllthomas 13y ago
"we ridiculed him for his fear" citation needed

spodek 13y ago

What's sad is what he got wrong. The 'm' in "Thousands dead, millions deprived of civil liberties?" should have been a 'b'. "Bush" in "Congress hurried to pass a resolution giving Bush unlimited power" should have been "the Executive Branch." Visionary as he was, history surpassed what he anticipated.

skore 13y ago
Indeed, that makes it even worse. Time and time again I see people scoffing at Stallman (and others like him) as "radicals" who do nothing but impede our discourse with their outlandish fantasies, trying to center it around their paranoia instead of finding quick, pragmatic and ultimately self destructive "solutions". I have a feeling Stallman would have liked to say more, but chose to make a more modest statement. Turns out, he could have cranked it up to 11 and it would still be modest by what we know today.

untog 13y ago

As usual, Stallman was not only ahead of his time, but also swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom I think that depends on what you call 'conventional wisdom'. The Patriot Act was widely criticsed from the first second it was introduced. Take a look at this NY Times article from 2001: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/13/us/nation-challenged-congress-house-passes-terrorism-bill-much-like-senate-s-but.html http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/13/us/nation-challenged-congr... Civil liberties advocates implored Congress to slow down and consider the legislation's impact, which they said could be a dangerous infringement on Americans' privacy and constitutional rights. He was very, very far from being alone in his stance. It's just that those with power were not also the skeptical ones.

dllthomas 13y ago
As a teen at the time, my first reaction (well, my first reaction after thinking my father was pulling my leg to get me out of bed, given that he'd been talking about something similar from a Clancy novel in then-recent memory) was very much in line with Stallman's: authority is going to overreact. That said, while he was far from alone, it was nonetheless close enough to say that "conventional wisdom" was on the other side of it. Even in my anti-Bush, left-leaning, civil-liberties-sensitive circles there was a profound overreaction and too much credence given to the "we have to be safe" line.

znowi 13y ago

I suppose it's better late than never. Glad people start realizing this and seeing the scale of the iceberg. I hope the young generation will find value in his ideals and will not be put off by "swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom". After all, the hacker's virtue has always been... an unconventional wisdom :)